The 17th Lok Sabha’s first session commenced Monday. (File photo)
Led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a total of 313 newly-elected MPs took oath as the members of 17th Lok Sabha Monday. Soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the leader of the House, took oath, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh followed suit and took the oath. The first session of the 17th Lo Sabha commenced Monday with jubilant BJP members raising ‘Ja Shri Ram and Bharat Mata ki Jai’ slogans as several members took oath as MPs.
After skipping the morning session of the Parliament, Congress president Rahul Gandhi finally took oath as a member of the 17th Lok Sabha on Monday afternoon. However, the four-time MP appeared to forgot that he had to sign the Parliament register after being sworn-in by Protem Speaker Virender Kumar. BJP MP from Bhopal Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur Monday stoked a controversy by using the name of her spiritual guru as a suffix to her own while taking oath as a member of the 17th Lok Sabha.
Ahead of the session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted the role of an opposition in the democracy and said the opposition need not bother about their numbers and urged them to speak actively and participate in the House proceedings. On the eve of the first session, PM Modi had chaired an all-party meeting and had invited heads of all parties to a meeting on June 19 to discuss “the one nation, one election” issue. PM Modi has been pushing to revive the concept of simultaneous polls, citing costs and the time spent on a continuous cycle of polls. But it remains to be seen if other parties are receptive to the idea.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with BJP President Amit Shah, senior leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Rajnath Singh, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and others during the NDA parliamentary board meeting at Parliament House, in New Delhi, Saturday, May 25, 2019. (PTI Photo)
BJP MP from Bhopal Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur created a controversy on the first day of 17th Lok Sabha Monday when she suffixed the name of her spiritual guru with hers while taking oath, drawing objections from the Opposition.
Amid protests and shoutings, Thakur said that it was her full name and she had mentioned that she had already mentioned her full name in the form she had filled for oath taking.
The mention of Swami Purna Chetnanand Avdheshanand Giri as suffix to her name Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur evoked sharp reaction from the Opposition members who said that such a thing was not permitted. She insisted that the suffix was part of her full name, resulting in an uproar from opposition and slogan shouting in her favour from the ruling benches.
Rahul Gandhi comes out of Lok Sabha after taking oath as MP.
Union Ministers Babul Supriyo and Debashree Choudhury, who are from West Bengal, were greeted by fellow BJP MPs with "Jai Shri Ram" slogans when they were called to take oath as Lok Sabha Members.
The cheer was apparently to take a dig at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who had allegedly objected to uttering the slogan during some incidents. (PTI)
Rahul Gandhi takes oath as Lok Sabha member. Even as he lost from his bastion Amethi, he won from Kerala's Wayanad constituency.
BJP Bhopal candidate Pragya Singh Thakur takes oath as Lok Sabha MP. Thakur won from the Bhopal seat fighting against Congress heavyweight and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minsiter Digvijaya Singh.
MPs from Gujarat Mahendrabhai Munjpara, Mohanbhai Kalyanji Kundariya, Rameshbhai Lavjibhai Dhaduk take oath as member of Lok Sabha.
Rahul Gandhi tweets on the beginning of his new innings in Parliament as an MP representing Wayanad, Kerala. "I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India," he says.
BJP Parliamentary board to meet at 6 pm today at party headquarters.
The Lok Sabha has been adjourned till 2pm
Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also took oath as Lok Sabha members. Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal was next to be sworn in. She took oath in Punjabi. After Harsimrat, HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank took oath. While Dr. Harsh Vardhan took oath in Sanskrit, Pralhad Joshi took oath in Kannada. Arjun Munda, Giriraj Singh, Gajendra Singh Shekawat, and Santosh Kumar Gangwar also took oath.
Kodikunnil Suresh of the Congress was the second to take oath as Lok Sabha member, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There is a strong buzz that the Kerala MP would lead the Congress in the Lok Sabha. Kerala was the lone silver lining in Congress' humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha. In Kerala, the Congress-led UDF won a staggering 19 out of 20 seats.
Union Minister Smriti Irani took oath as Lok Sabha member amid thunderous applause. In the recently-held Lok Sabha elections, Irani defeated Congress president Rahul Gandhi from the Amethi constituency.
Following the swearing-in of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Lok Sabha member, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and Sadananda Gowda took the oath.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah took oath as Lok Sabha member.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also the leader of the House, takes oath as Lok Sabha Member.
Highlighting the role of an opposition in the democracy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the opposition need not bother about their numbers and urged them to speak actively and participate in the House proceedings. "In Parliament, we should forget 'Paksh', 'Vipaksh' and think about issues with 'nishpaksh spirit', work in larger interest of nation," PM Modi said in his brief address to reporters ahead of the 17th Lok Sabha.
Speaking ahead of the 17th Lok Sabha's first session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "We are working to fulfill people's aspiration. We value the opposition & their role. It's a sign of a healthy democracy to have a strong opposition. I believe that our session will be more productive as opposed to previous times."
Express photo by Renuka Puri
Watch this space for the LIVE webcast of the proceedings of the 17th Lok Sabha
BJP MP Virendra Kumar took oath as the Protem Speaker of the 17th Lok Sabha at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Good morning! Welcome to our new Live blog as we bring you all the latest updates from the first session of the newly-elected 17th Lok Sabha.